Boy, did I need a good laugh. Thanks!!

But, is it really true about sun-dried tomatoes and top-grade peyote?

I won't ask why you're asking. EL

Yes, Rosebud, my virtual sister, I had exactly the same question! Just curious ...

Oh Elizabeth, this is PRICEless! Sure I miss OMG's Thursday menu game, but this makes up for it.

Yes, it's purely academic curiosity...nudge, nudge, wink, wink...

Hepatitis!

That was so funny - all of it! And, you know, I wondered the exact same thing...

so who is going to fall on the sword for this one? (that is, what everyone is wondering about the sun dried tomatoes)

hmpstd? one of the Roberts?

i'd ask Owlie too, but i'm afraid he already knows.... i hope he's around, i think he would have liked that NYer post... and i'm supremely disappointed no funtastic thursdays today, i've been thinking about those crazy happy bananas with hoola hoops.

To satisfy everybody's "purely academic" curiosity, compare these pictures of peyote with these pictures of sun-dried tomatoes. The tomatoes are a lot more, um, tomato-colored.

hmpstd, you missed your calling as a research librarian (although I'm sure you make a lot more money doing what you do ...)

The tomatoes are a lot more, um, tomato-colored
hmpstd, you both a great detective and a wonderful blog historian.

The supreme court has upheld my right to eat sun dried tomatoes, so long as my consuming them is part of a religious ceremony.

Um, EL - would you care to explain the phrase "you aren't reading enough ladies' magazines"? Are you calling the New Yorker a "ladies' magazine"?

And fellow male Sandboxers, I cannot believe that I am the only one to ask this!

I meant that the piece was a wonderful send up of articles in ladies magazines that always have 12 tips to do this and that. The language is perfect. I wasn't referring to the New Yorker as a ladies magazine, but publications like Woman's Day and Family Circle. You might not get just how funny it was if you hadn't read the articles it was parodying. EL

And fellow male Sandboxers, I cannot believe that I am the only one to ask this!

I wanted someone to explain the "hepatitis" joke, but like EL, I'm often hesitant to reveal any "unhipness" on my part.

Actually, I suspect "hip" is an unhip term nowadays. :-)

You're a brave man, Hal. And an inspiration.

I didn't get it either.

I read it, didn't get it, but decided to keep quiet. I didn't need to have my inadequacies dragged through the Sandbox.

Yeah. I didn't get the bit about hepatitis either--did anyone?

Hal, we can be unhip and proud of it.

Piano Rob -- I got the reference from the start, but only because, back when magazine parodies were issued with some regularity, I had enjoyed Cosmoparody, featuring such deathless advice articles as He Lies, He Cheats, He Steals: What You're Doing Wrong! (Exclamation point in original text.)

EL - Big DUH on me. I should have recognized your reference after having spent so many years, as we all have, languishing in slow-moving grocery lines with nothing but magazine covers to peruse. I apologize for falsely accusing you.

Re: the hepatitis "joke." According to one medical website, Hepatitis A is transmitted by contaminated food or water, or by contact with a person who is currently ill with the disease.

Thus, my guess is that the party host is serving contaminated food to his guests, none of whom he likes. Talk about a dysfunctional party. I wonder what he served Peter?

I admit I am assuming PRob used he with exact meaning, not as a collective pronoun, but I was never sure the gender of the writer. It seemed to wander (which could be a whole other issue.)

RtSO: From what I gleaned in the "narrative" of the background story, the host is male because his ex-fiancee, Cheryl, is in attendance along with her current fiance, Jeff, a novelist. Marissa appears to be a friend of the host's but his use of sarcasm shows that he hasn't truly "grown up and moved on." Not to mention the fact that he has no problem pointing out the alcohol problem of her fiancee, Peter, despite the fact that Peter later comes to Yoni's defense.

Wow, literary criticism on D@L.